Jake's Outdoors

A Little Help from the Texans?

I stumbled across an article today that has to do with a practice in Texas, and I am hoping that some of you guys that live down that way might be able to help me out in understanding the practice, and the impact of the practice. The article about it can be found at the Statesman.com. It appears that in Texas it is legal to install gates such as the one to the right in high fences, which surround ranches. The gate is designed to allow deer to push their way through, often to bait piles just past the gate. Now, I am not one to criticize the hunting methods of others. In fact, I have been formulating a post in my mind about the damage that can be done by the constant backbiting between sportsmen. However, this seems like a practice that could (and would) cause for some major bad blood between landowners. If I had a ranch where I wanted to do some quality deer management, and found that my neighbor was baiting all the deer to his property, trapping them there, and not allowing any to return, I would be pretty upset! So, I guess my question to those who visit us here at Jake’s Outdoors from Texas is: is this developing into any kind of problem down there? Does this tend to give ranchers, or even more specifically hunters a bad name? Of course, I appreciate and solicit comments from anyone who has an opinion on the subject!

Also mentiond in the article is the practice of having mechanical gates, which are controlled by the land owner. This seems even more disturbing, as the landowner can be very selective about which deer come into his or her property. They can watch the gate, and only raise it when there are deer outside that they want on their ranch. Again, that may work wonders for the development of a herd on the inside of the high fence, but how does that impact the other landowners on the outside of the ranch? Again, I would be furious if that were happening beside me. It may lead to the conclusion that the only way to compete is to do the same thing! I wonder how much this leads to cut fences in that part of the country?

It seems to me that this practice is not so much about hunting, or hunting practices. It is about what is ethical. We could probably debate all day the idea of hunting behind high fences. That is not even what this post is about. This is about the practice of purposefully enticing deer into your ranch, and then impeding their ability to return to where they just came from. I am sure that the discussion could overflow into hunting, if this is being done during the season. Imagine the ease with which a deer fresh through the gate could be killed. If they spooked, and tried to flee, they would go right back to the gate, where they would be trapped, and panicked. There are certainly many problems that may arise with the practice.

Don’t let me indicate that Texas is the only place that these practices may be used. It is simply the example that I found while reading articles this morning. So, don’t think I am attacking Texas in some way–that is not the case. Let me know what you think of these practices!